The Wall › Panel 24W › Massachusetts › Edmond Chester Polenski
EDMOND CHESTER POLENSKI
Master Sergeant · U.S. Marine Corps
January 14, 1931 – May 18, 1969
Service recordEdmond Chester Polenski, of Worcester, Massachusetts, served as a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on May 18, 1969, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 38. His name is inscribed on Panel 24W, Line 48 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 24W · Line 48
Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.
Remember
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Service
- Branch
- U.S. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Master Sergeant (MSGT)
- Service
- Regular
- Born
- January 14, 1931
- Home of record
- Worcester, Massachusetts (Worcester County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- May 18, 1969
- Age
- 38
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
Context · from the records
What was happening
81 names on the Wall carry the date May 18, 1969; 29 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In May 1969, 1,456 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Hamburger Hill was under way. On Đồng Ấp Bia (Hill 937) in the A Shau Valley (10–20 May 1969), the 101st Airborne Division attacked entrenched North Vietnamese troops for ten days; the soldiers called it “Hamburger Hill.” The heavy losses fed the debate at home over the war’s tactics. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 24W, Line 48
- CHARLES WILLIAM PIGOTTCaptain · May 18, 1969
- JORDY JOSEPH PITRESpecialist Four · May 18, 1969
- PATRICK L RICESpecialist Five · May 18, 1969
- KERMIT BRUCE ROBERTSTechnical Sergeant · May 18, 1969
From Worcester
- THOM THURSTON OSBORNPrivate First Class · January 28, 1966
- DAVID LAWRENCE DRAKE JRHospitalman · March 20, 1966
- ROBERT J DIREDAPrivate First Class · March 30, 1966
- PAUL RICHARD CAPUANOPrivate First Class · April 1, 1966
- DANIEL VICTOR MANZAROCorporal · April 1, 1966
- RALPH VICTOR RENAULD JRPrivate First Class · July 15, 1966
- WALTER STEPHAN MOONEYLance Corporal · September 5, 1966
- RICHARD CHARLES JOHNSONPrivate First Class · September 26, 1966
- RUSSELL PETER BOTTMaster Sergeant · December 2, 1966
- ALLAN PHILIP COLLAMORE JRLieutenant Commander · February 4, 1967
Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.